


But the Dogs

by allisondraste



Series: Roses and Thorns [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mabari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 14:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15730884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allisondraste/pseuds/allisondraste
Summary: From the Tumblr Prompt: Imagine Amell owning the most intimidating dogs in the world. To Amell, they’re sweethearts but to Alistair, they’re his worst nightmare. Every time he tries to visit Amell he has to get through them first. Not to mention they’re the biggest cockblockers ever!





	But the Dogs

Lucia had always wanted a mabari.  She told him this once, standing near the kennels in Ostagar, peering excitedly over the wooden gates at the trained war dogs as if they were new born pups.  He remembered how her sad eyes glittered when two of the dogs turned up as they left the Korcari wilds, injured, but obviously imprinted on her.  She had helped to cure them of their Blight sickness, after all.  At the time, they were not very old, but already rather large and imposing. What had the Kennel Master fed them?

Rune and Fang, she called them, and they were her loyal protectors.  As giddy and playful as they seemed in her presence, they were fierce and brutal.  No threat to their master would escape their vicious maws.  Alistair only wished they did not deem him to be such a threat.  He could not step within five feet of her without Rune growling and lowering her ears, or Fang baring his namesake chompers at him.

It was a shame, really, because as far as Alistair was concerned, even five feet away from her was too far.

He had hugged her once, on accident – well, it had sort of been an accident.  After surviving the battle at Ostagar and after learning that Duncan and all his fellow Wardens died, he had been… overcome with relief to see her walk from Flemeth’s hut alive and remarkably unscathed.  She had smelled like an intoxicating mix of rose petals and firewood. He had yet to be able to shake it from his mind.

Not that he really wanted to, after all.  They had been through so much together in such a short time, and he would be fooling himself if he said he did not care for her.  He had never met anyone like her, so thoughtful in everything she did, and so certain of herself even when there was no possible way to be certain of anything.  He wanted nothing more than to be closer to her.

But the dogs.

It took him days of rehearsing the words in his head, and several hours to build up the courage to approach her in camp with her war beasts on the prowl.  It was weird how he had spent so much time with mabari as a child, never fearing a single one, and somehow these two terrified him.  Maybe it wasn’t the dogs, but what they represented. Rejection and a pair of protective mabari were basically the same, right?

Still, Alistair was determined to talk to her, to tell her how he felt, and hopefully to hear her say that she felt the same way.  He approached her, carefully.  Her eyes met his and they brightened, closing slightly as she smiled.  He liked how they did that.

“Something wrong,” Lucia asked, her stoic voice revealing a twinge of worry, “You’re sweating.”

“Am I?” He touched his forehead with the back of his hand, “Huh, guess I am.”

“If it’s the dogs, you really shouldn’t worry,” she said, apologetically, “They’re all bark and no bite.”

“No,” he replied defensively, “Remember that time Fang almost bit off my finger?”

“He was playing.  If he meant to bite your finger off, he would have.” She smiled and shook her head the way she always did when he said something silly.  

His heart was pounding. It definitely wasn’t the dogs.

“Listen,” he began, forcing the words out around the knot in his throat, “It’s um… not the dogs this time. Well, maybe it’s a little the dogs, but you’re way more terrifying.”

“I’m terrifying?” Her eyebrow quirked up.

“No I didn’t mean it like that, I just.  This all happened so much more smoothly in my head.”

“It’s okay, take your time,” she encouraged.

Alistair inhaled deeply, cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and everything just sort of fell out.  He told her how he had come to care for her, and how he knew it was fast and foolish, but no matter how he tried he could not stop thinking about her.  He confessed that he could not forget how it felt to hug her and that he wanted nothing more than to hug her again. He revealed more than he wished he would have.  He just wanted her to know how he felt.

“That’s it,” Lucia asked with a smirk as she stepped closer to him, taking one of his hands in hers, “You just wanted to tell me that?”

“Not exactly,” he admitted taking her other hand, “I also wondered if maybe… you might feel the same way about me?”

“Do you really need me to answer that,” she asked tilting her head upward to look at him directly.

“No, I suppose not, but I do have another question” he said, feeling his face flush.

“What?”

“How would you feel if I were to, I don’t know, kiss you right now, or something like that,” he asked with feigned flippancy.  It would be easier to brush off if she said no.

“I can’t say how I would feel about it until after you kiss me,” she answered with a smirk, “And before you ask… yes, that means you can kiss me.”

And so he did – well, he almost did.

As soon as Alistair cupped her cheek in his hand, and leaned down, he heard a low growl and felt forceful tugging at the heel of his boots.  He turned to see Rune and Fang barking and nipping at his boots. Maker’s breath, they picked a bad time to turn on him.

“What,” he whined at them, “I have permission.”

“But you didn’t ask them for permission,” Lucia teased.

“Fine,” he said with determination, kneeling down at eye level with the mutts, “May a please, pretty please kiss your mother?”

Unexpectedly, both dogs began wagging their tails, barking happily in unison.  He couldn’t believe it worked.  He blinked a few times, in awe, before standing and turning to Lucia again. He tenderly took her face in his hands and pressed his lips against her own, gently and briefly, before pulling away to admire her.   
  
She was beautiful, and he was a lucky, lucky man.


End file.
